


Take Me Home

by thatluckyrabbit



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - War, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, I love this pairing, M/M, Male Slash, My First Work in This Fandom, Please Don't Kill Me, Post-War, War Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 16:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2075424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatluckyrabbit/pseuds/thatluckyrabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Jean doesn't speak. Armin will wait.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Home

**Author's Note:**

> AU. 
> 
> So my first fanfic for this fandom (and my OTP for said fandom X3). I wanted to write for Jearmin for a long while now, and I finally got some good inspiration for a short AU fic after watching a movie called "How I Live Now". Basically some post-war stuff, you know? Anyway, this is my first time writing for these two, so... yeah. Sorry if it's bad! XD
> 
> if you liked it though, please kudos! X3 It would be very much appreciated!

  
He takes a seat beside the still figure. He knows there's no point in trying to get his lover to talk, but Armin likes to try. He still speaks to him, even though he knows he won't get a response. Deep down he feels like it's the only way to remind Jean that he still loves him; that he's still going to be there for him, even now, even after everything that has happened.  
  
Jean doesn't even look at him anymore. Not really, anyway. He always stares straight ahead with empty eyes, as if remembering everything he'd seen after they'd been forcibly separated. After the draft, when the strongest men in the country had been chosen to fight as soldiers, the ones deemed 'weaker' were sent out to work in the fields to harvest the food for everyone.  
  
Armin doesn't know what Jean has seen during those long months, and he knows better than try and find out. In fact he _doesn't_ want to know.  
  
"I thought things would go back to normal," Armin says quietly. He lowers his eyes. "Once the war ended, I thought everything would be okay."  
  
Of course things wouldn't go back to normal. He should have known that, and in some ways he did, even if he didn't admit it at the time. But even during tough times, even during a _war_ , Armin still held that optimistic side of him that used to annoy the usually cynical Jean. What else was there for him to do other than to worry? Optimism was the only thing that got him through those lonely nights after a long day of pulling up vegetables from their roots in the ground and coming home with cracked hands caked in dirt. Armin would spend half an hour each night to wash his hands—not to get the dirt off his hands, but to give himself something to do, something to take his mind off of everything else.  
  
He looks down at his hands for a brief moment before glancing at Jean's hands, which he clasps together in his lap.  
  
 _"Jean?"_  
  
 _"Remember that whatever happens, I'll find a way to come back to you. Okay?"_  
  
Armin reaches out, slowly grasping one of Jean's hands in his own. Much to his surprise, Jean hardly flinches at the gesture, but his hand is weak and practically limp in Armin's gentle grasp. Almost like he doesn't want to hold on...  
  
"I'd rather have you like this," Armin says, voice barely above a whisper, almost unheard over the birds chirping around them and the bees buzzing close to where they were sitting currently. "Because... it means you're alive... it means you're still _here..."_  
  
He brushes his thumb over the back of Jean's hand, over a big scar there that was still healing (but would never truly fade, just like all the other scars on Jean's body). "I'd rather have you here with me in any form than not have you be here at all." _You could be dead. But you're not. You're still here._  
  
Armin sits and waits, as if hoping that Jean would make any sort of response this time.  He doesn't have to wait long.  
  
Slowly Jean's fingers curl around his hand, (even if very faintly). Armin looks at him and smiles.  
  
 _You're still here with me. Just like you promised._


End file.
